Teen`s Titanic Game Is Night To Remember

In sports, learning to deal with distractions is the difference between the good, the bad and the chokers. Chokers never seem to win. They just gulp their way through life.

Pressure affects athletes differently, but those who master the proper swallow under anxiety never have to dream of what could have been. With a twinkle in their eyes and a clear throat, non-chokers can relive their athletic accomplishments every day. Just by remembering.

Hollywood`s Chris Deal won`t have to dream about could-have-beens. He can daydream about the ``best feeling`` in his life.

Deal, a bowler, is happy such a big deal was made over his 300 game at West Hollywood Lanes last month. It isn`t unheard of, but it isn`t often a left- handed, 16-year-old with a 190 average rolls a perfect score.

``It was great, but I didn`t expect to do it,`` Deal said.

Deal is more impressed by the way he avoided the big choke than the actual game. The 300 came after Deal bowled 246 and 225 to give him a 771. It took place in a Saturday morning Young American Bowling Alliance league.

``Up until I bowled that day, my highest set was a 698,`` said Deal, a junior at Hollywood`s McArthur High School. ``I don`t know what happened, but everything was falling into place. I couldn`t do anything wrong.``

Like a pitcher who has a no-hitter going into the ninth inning or a forward attempting to win the title game with a crucial free throw, every now and then a bowler has to ignore the world -- including the giggling children two lanes down -- and concentrate on striking out in the final frame.

Imagine fanning 12 batters in a rowor hitting 12 consecutive foul shots. Imagine a junior bowler with a below-200 average steadying his nerves in front of dozens of disbelievers for strike No. 12.

Gulp.

``I tried not to think about it, but that wasn`t easy,`` Deal said. ``Around the seventh or eighth frame, I started thinking I might have something going here. A lot of people, including some of my friends, started to come over then, and I had to deal with that.``

Because a screen above each lane displays the scores, Deal noticed that by his eighth strike, ``Everybody was around me watching. It was kind of a distraction.``

But Deal met every distraction with another strike. Getting No. 12 was a relief.

``I took a deep breath, rolled the ball and smiled when I got the strike,`` he said. ``At that point, I was more happy it was over than anything else.``

Deal has been bowling for eight years. He and his older brother, Stan, used to bowl for fun. Then Chris started getting good.

``A couple of years ago I started noticing I was doing OK,`` Deal said. ``So I started working hard at it. When I do good at something, I take it seriously. I try to get better.``

His 300 game helped him raise his average seven pins.

Four other West Hollywood regulars recently added to their averages with perfect games. Dan Puleo, John Anderson and Bob Nie (all of the Tucker Insurance League) and Dan Kliment (Sunday Night Sociable League) each have 300 games this fall.

Besides the YABA league at West Hollywood lanes, Deal bowls in a Broward County junior travel league, where he and teammates compete at a different house every two weeks.

``The reason I like bowling is because of the competition of me against everyone else,`` Deal said. ``It`s also a challenge for me to try to beat what I`ve done in the past.``

Besides bowling, Deal also was a place-kicker on the McArthur football team. He was used as a long-range field goal kicker this year, but as a senior he may be coach Roger Mastrantonio`s main foot. The left foot, that is.

Deal also has played soccer for the school.

No matter what else Deal finds the time to do, bowling is his forte. He bowls three or more times at West Hollywood as well as works as a porter 10 hours a week to earn pocket money in his favorite atmosphere.

``I`ve been back there bowling several times since that 300 game, but I haven`t come close,`` he said. ``But bowling is one of those things where you`ve got to keep at it and not get flustered.``

While many of his friends can merely talk about their bowling fantasies, Deal can at least deal with the reality of a past, (swallow) superb, (gulp) accomplishment.